Iron Design Company was established to promote modern designs in hand formed iron objects, transforming a bold material into everyday items that are innovative and inviting. Additionally, IDC supports an apprenticeship with the local highschool, giving students a unique opportunity to work with their hands.

Pictured is a pitcher, part of a recently completed commission for the Penland School of Crafts in Penland, NC. The commission involved reimagining a selection of Appalachian hand crafts that were made at Penland and used to promote the school at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. The additional objects ranged from a weaving to a candle lit sconce, all fashioned in stainless steel.

Penland School of Crafts in Penland, North Carolina just published a book highlighting it's resident artist and core fellowship program. Titled Inspired, the book pays homage to the success of the two programs, helping transform eager young artists into professionals and making western North Carolina an epicenter for handmade. I was a resident artist in 2002, it's an honor to be featured.

Blue Spiral Gallery in Asheville, NC is hosting an exhibition called "Line", featuring artisans whose work showcases strong linear elements. Look for a selection of our metalwork, including a unique aluminum chandelier. The exhibition runs from July 1st- August 26th, check it out-

Check out the newly opened exhibition Maximum Craft hosted by the Signature Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia. Special thanks to gallery owner Carr McCuiston for the invite, our Bend Coatracks are on display.

Come visit us in Washington, DC next week at the National Building Museum for the Smithsonian Craft Show. The show is open Thursday (4/23) till Sunday (4/26) with a preview night benefit Wednesday evening.

We are moving house and studio, and will be taking orders on select items only during this time. Thank you so so much for your patience. Pictured is a sneak peak of a new design, which will also be the center pieces at the Penland School of Crafts benefit auction.

American Craft Magazine just released their first digital only design issue, and we made the cut. The theme is great design, and, along with some new stories, it contains reprints from recent years

I'll have old and new work in the exhibition: They Used to Work Here: Art by Haystack's Summer Assistants hosted by the Haystack School of Crafts in Maine.

Good news, I won a 2013 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship. Twelve of us from across the state of Virginia won top honors, the VMFA also gives awards to graduate and undergraduate art students. We'll be in Richmond on March 8th for the reception.Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

And..
Still on view at the Museum of Design Atlanta is The South's Next Wave: Design Challenge including my unique hand railing. The exhibit is open to the public until March 31st, and you get to vote for your favorite set of designers!Museum of Design Atlanta

And..
We are getting ready to move and will be low on items till later this Spring. Feel free to email any questions in the meantime.

This weekend I'll be in Washington, DC as a guest artist for the James Renwick Alliance's distinguished artist series. The James Renwick Alliance supports the Smithsonian Art Museum's Renwick Gallery and promotes contemporary craft. Four times a year they bring in artists to demonstrate and lecture about the work they make, check out the JRA website or contact us for exact times and locations.

The exhibition 40 under 40: Craft Futures is still on view at the Renwick Gallery. You have till February 3rd to see the show!

Also still on view at the Museum of Design Atlanta is The South's Next Wave: Design Challenge including my unique hand railing. The exhibit is open to the public until March 31st, and you get to vote for your favorite set of designers.

This weekend I'll be in Washington, DC as a guest artist for the James Renwick Alliance's distinguished artist series. The James Renwick Alliance supports the Smithsonian Art Museum's Renwick Gallery and promotes contemporary craft. Four times a year they bring in artists to demonstrate and lecture about the work they make, check out the JRA website or contact us for exact times and locations.

The exhibition 40 under 40: Craft Futures is still on view at the Renwick Gallery. You have till February 3rd to see the show!

Also still on view at the Museum of Design Atlanta is The South's Next Wave: Design Challenge including my unique hand railing. The exhibit is open to the public until March 31st, and you get to vote for your favorite set of designers.

The Oct/Nov issue of American Craftmagazine features those of us who are in the 40 under 40: Craft Futures exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC.

Also..

Look for our iron at the Museum of Design Atlanta in an exhibition called: The South's Next Wave: Design Challenge. The show opens November 11th - March 13th 2013 and pairs interior designers with product makers in a competition to design the best vignette.

Just returned from teaching a high school workshop in Deer Isle, ME at the Haystack School of Crafts. Studio Based Learning invites local high school students to take workshops at the school, students in my blacksmithing class each made their own mobile.

The exhibit 40 under 40: Craft Futures opened last week at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC. Pictured is Marc with his father Thomas, standing next to Marc's Renwick Gate, created for the exhibition. 40 under 40: Craft Futures will be up till February 2013.

Check out the museum's website to learn who's in the exhibition, press coverage, and how you can help support the Renwick.

We are in Washington, DC at the National Building Museum for the 2012 Smithsonian Craft Show. We were surprised and excited to receive the excellence in design award during the opening night ceremonies. You can find us and our iron (including new coat rack designs) at booth #231.
Smithsonian Craft Show 2012 National Building Museum

Also.. we recently received this email from Maria in Mexico who purchased a Wine Rack:

I've been meaning to write to you to let you know that I live on the ninth floor of a 15-story-high building and during the last earthquake we had in Mexico City last week, even though walls and floors were shaking, your wine rack, fully stocked, kept my wine bottles intact! ;-)

Tune in January 27th to see our Wine Racks on the DIY Network TV show Man Caves.
This celebrity episode is at the home of NBA star Kris Humphries, look for three of our Wine Racks installed in the bar/lounge area of the renovation.

Check out the November issue of Food and Wine magazine to find our Mezzaluna displayed in an article featuring hand-made cookware. Special thanks to writer Kristin Donnelly for seeking us out and composing the review.

Recently returned from teaching a short workshop at the Haystack School of Crafts in Deer Isle, ME. In the Fall, Haystack offers the great opportunity of working with one's hands to the local high schools. The students in my blacksmithing workshop each designed and created a finished mobile.

Check out the August/September issue of American Craft Magazine for a two page spread on our ironwork (pages 14 & 15). Titled Strike a Balance, the feature displays a handful of images and dives into Marc's introduction to blacksmithing. Special thanks to senior editor Julie Hanus for composing the article.

Special thanks to Francois Roy and Plaisirs de Vivre (living with style) for featuring our Andiron in their May issue. The article titled Room to Move presents ten items "whose uplifting designs are bound to bring joy to jaded souls". Great magazine, be sure to investigate.

The National Ornamental Metals Museum in Memphis, TN hosts a handful of small solo exhibitions (called Tributaries) throughout the year to showcase innovative metalwork. Marc will display a summary of two recent groups of work Draw and Settle, in addition to a newly made gate for the upcoming 40 under 40 at the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Tributaries: Marc Maiorana will be on view May 13-July 7, 2011
Come out to the opening May 20th and say hi, we will be there!

Marc's ironwork will be included in the exhibition: 40 Under 40: Craft Futures at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum July 20, 2012. Each participating artist's work will be acquired by the museum for its permanent collection; Marc will be making a small custom gate for the event. Craft Futures will tour nationally after the exhibition closes in Washington, D.C.

The traveling jewelry and blacksmithing exhibit Different Tempers is on show for the last time at the University of Texas at El Paso. The survey of contemporary metal work includes two sculptures by Marc, and has been traveling since 2009. Different Tempers was curated by Metalsmith magazine editor Suzanne Ramljak and organized by The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, a regional center of the University of North Carolina.

Come visit us at the 16 Hands Studio Tour in Floyd, VA this holiday weekend November 26-28th. Floyd, VA is home to a handful of artisans in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains who open their studios twice a year to host a sale and invite guest artists to participate. We will be graciously hosted by potter Silvie Granatelli.

Opening this November, the recently completed luxury hotel The Setai in New York City will feature our commissioned Andiron in their lobby fireplace. Found at 400 Fifth Avenue, The Setai soars more than 60 stories above the famed Midtown stretch of Manhattan's Fifth Ave.

Also, Iron Design Company will be a guest artist at the 16 Hands Studio Tour in Floyd, VA on November 26-28th.
More details at: 16 Hands

Castings and Forgings News contacted and featured Iron Design Company and our products in their October newspaper. Based in the Netherlands, Castings and Forgings News covers the latest developments in the global industrial metals trade, and with each issue reserves space in their periodical for interesting metal designers. We were also in luck with our timing, as CFN is distributing their newspaper at a couple of October trade shows.

E-mail us if you would like to read the article: info@irondesigncompany.com

Occasionally we take on a custom architectural project, and featured here is a recently completed patio gate. Fully functional, the design seemingly submits to the forces that usually requires gates to be physically and visually heavy. The gate resides now in North Carolina after being built in our Virginia studio. We have the capabilities to design and build custom projects anywhere and work closely with clients throughout the process, from sketches to installation.

Just returned home from teaching a two week session at the Penland School of Crafts. The most amazing moment, among many, came in the last hour of shop time, when the class pulled a group forge weld. Forge welding is when you join separate pieces of steel by heating them very hot and hammering them together. Eight students independently heated their bars to heat, ran across the shop to one common anvil, and the class assistant struck down to join all bars into one. We erupted in cheer and high fives, exhilarated by the feat and the sparks and the coming together represented by the resulting iron star.

The latest issue of the Dutch Audi Magazine features our Wine Rack as one of four items chosen for the Design section. Special thanks to writer Lucas Boot for his keen eye and reaching out to us.

Here is the translation:

Why hide your bottles of wine in a dark cellar? With this Wine Rack from the American Iron Design Company you save your Spatburgunders and Rieslings on the wall with style. The rack is capable of carrying six bottles and is made from recycled metal.

AOL interviewed Marc and featured our Wine Rack this week on their popular home living and design web-site: rented spaces.

Here is a portion of the article:

"Don't let the picture fool you. The shape of the rack is pre-formed and made out of powder-coated steel. A little eye trickery was a bit what the designers had in mind. "Our specialty is giving grace to a bold, stubborn building material," Maiorana explains."

Our Andiron kicks off it's 3-year traveling exhibition debut this weekend at the opening reception for Iron: Twenty Ten at the National Ornamental Metal Museum. Iron: Twenty Ten is "a survey of the finest contemporary blacksmithing in the United States. Employing both traditional and innovative approaches, the selected work demonstrates the tremendous breadth of ideas and depth of talent found in American blacksmithing today."

Robyn and I just want to say thanks to everyone who visited us in NYC at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show. We met tons of great people in and out of the trade, had fun with fellow exhibitors, and even caught up with family.

If you weren't able to attend, you missed the unveiling of our new walnut and steel Book Stand (featured here).

Iron Design Company will be exhibiting and selling at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show coming up in NYC. Find us at booth M33 in the MADE section, an area devoted to limited edition and original furnishings.

The traveling jewelry and blacksmithing exhibit Different Tempers is on display in Memphis at the National Ornamental Metal Museum. Curated by Suzanne Ramljak, editor of Metalsmith magazine, the exhibition explores these two realms of metalsmithing to highlight their distinct properties as well as their commonalities.

Dwell magazine's online product spotlight was on our Wood Rack this past week. Incase you missed the subscriber letter of the week's highlights, visit the Product page at Dwell.com to see our iron in residence.

Until January 1, 2010 we are offering free shipping on all orders under $500.

Haystack Scholarship Auction

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts is having an auction to support it's scholarship students. Haystack's auction is being held for the first time on E-bay and features work by 30 previous faculty members, including myself. Scroll down the thumbnails to find a pair of our Book Sconces on the auction block. Auction ends Thursday!

Until January 1, 2010 we are offering free shipping on all orders under $500.

Last weekend we had a great time in Richmond, VA at the Craft and Design Show displaying our ironwork. The front of the display was an homage to an oncoming winter season, featuring our Andiron, Wood Rack, and Fire Set (pictured).

The 45th Craft + Design Show returns to the magnificent Rotunda at the Science Museum of Virginia, located at 2500 W. Broad Street. Iron Design Company will be set up at booth 26 selling items from the web-site plus a new fireplace set.

2009 Craft + Design Show Hours

Friday, November 20: Patrons Preview, 6-9 PM (for VisArts Patron level members only)
Saturday, November 21: Open to the public 10 AM-6 PM
Sunday, November 22: Open to the public 11 AM-5 PM

The Guild Sourcebook of Art showcases site-specific architectural and interior artworks for public and corporate clients, as well as custom-designed, limited-edition, and one-of-a-kind works for the home. Printed yearly, 12,000 sourcebooks are distributed to interior designers, architects, and consultants throughout the United States and Canada.

Our page features a pair of Book Sconces and a hand railing commissioned by the Penland School of Crafts, both of which can be found here on the web-site.

Scroll around the site and you'll notice a few new changes. In addition to a new layout, you can now purchase IDC items through the website. When looking at an item, the link in the lower left hand column will take you to a pricelist and then to check out.

Last weekend we traveled to the Penland School of Crafts to honor artist and educator L. Brent Kington. In 1970 Brent hosted the first university blacksmithing conference and established the only university program in blacksmithing at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. I am among many graduates who owe their education to Brent and continue to be inspired by his words and work. Visit a current retrospective of his iron at the Illinois State Museum:

Last Fall we worked on a railing project for Frank Konhaus and Ellen Cassilly's new home in Chapel Hill, NC and today their home was featured in the New York Times. In addition to the home, they documented the railing in print and on-line.

The Book Sconces have been getting lots of attention recently, in addition to Dwell they were recently installed at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art as part of the city wide
celebration of New Orleans called Prospect 1.

In February, we snagged an Excellence Award at the Baltimore Craft Show. Since then our forged spatula has been featured in Gourmet magazine's online product review and our iron wares are now available at the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design.